The New York Yankees made their first big move of the offseason, bolstering their rotation by agreeing Thursday to acquire Javier Vazquez from the Montreal Expos.

In exchange for the 27-year-old right-hander, New York sent first baseman Nick Johnson, outfielder Juan Rivera and left-hander Randy Choate to Montreal. The deal is contingent on all the players passing physicals.

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that is true.....after all, he's usually playing in front of 10,000 French speaking Canadians.....after what he hears 50,000 Yankee fans screaming at him, he'll understand the French language much better....lol.....

seriously, though, it is a different world he's going to, media wise and fan base.....

The trade makes so much sense for the Yanks because pitchers like Vazquez are simply not put on the market. To get a good player you got to give up a good player. That's exactly what the Yanks did. I don't blame them for not wanting to part with Johnson in a package for Schilling but to trade him for a pitcher 10 years younger than Schilling is another story. Vazquez is not just a hard thrower he is a pitcher. He's got great command, three good pitchers, and an innings eater. The Yanks deperately needed to get younger in their rotation. Now they got the young arm to anchor their rotation for years to come. As for the Expos they got a 25 year old lefty with a sweet swing who now is given the chance to play everyday at 1st instead of rotating between 1st base and DH. He gets on-base, is a 300 hitter, and as he matures should find his power stroke. Also this should free up some money for the Expos to try and sign Guerrero to a multi-year deal. Now for the Yanks addressing their pitching needs through free agency would have been a mistake. The only name that pops in my head is Colon. But with Colon comes persisent concerns about his conditioning. Another thing to be weary of would have been Colon losing interest in staying fit once he got the long term deal from the Yanks.